NA TURE 



99 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1910. 



HIGHER ASPECTS OF ELECTRICITY. 

 A Treatise on Electrical Theory and the Problem of 

 the Universe, considered from the Physical Point 

 of View, u'ith Mathematical Appendices. By 

 G. W. de Tunzelmann. Pp. xxxii + 654. 

 (London : Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1910.) 

 Price 15s. netl 



THE partial success which has attended the recent 

 attempts of Einstein and' Minkowski to found 

 an electromag^netic system of mechanics has tended to 

 strengthen the popular idea that the solution of out- 

 standing problems and mysteries must be sought in 

 :he domain of electrical rather than other physical 

 phenomena. From being a disturbing element char- 

 acterised by unaccountable vagaries, the "electric fire" \ 

 has come to be an all-pervading element,- closely 

 approaching the alchemist's idea of a primal sub- 

 stance. Mr. de Tunzelmann *s work is an ambitious 

 attempt to applv the Faraday-Maxwell theory- of elec- 

 tricitA', as modified by Larmor in the atomistic direc- 

 tion, to what he calls " the problem of the universe." 

 Incidentally, the book gives a great deal of informa- 

 tion with regard to recent work and speculation, and 

 although the titular object of the work has not been 

 ittained (it could hardly be otherwise in our present 

 state of knowledge), it will be valued on account of 

 the information given on such varied subjects as elec- 

 trolysis, radiation, radio-activit}-, the a^e of the earth, 

 the solar corona, and the place of mind in the 

 universe. 



.As might have been expected in a book of this 

 kind, the interstellar ether plays a fundamental part \ 

 in most of the ultimate speculations. That being 

 ^o, it is to be regretted that no serious attempt was 

 made to present the modern aspects of the various 

 rher theories. Possibly the author may have con- 

 sidered the matter as too controversial. The electro- , 

 magnetic principle of relativit}- (as distinguished from ' 

 the mechanical or Newtonian one) is of such outstand- '• 

 ing importance that it is quite impossible to state ! 

 modem electrical problems without at least acknow- ! 

 ledging its existence. Yet, neither in chapters v. nor ! 

 xxii., where some statement of the principle is urgently 1 

 called for, nor indeed in any other part of the work, 

 is it even mentioned. .\nd. although Le Sage's hypo- 

 thesis and its later variants are dealt with to a re- 

 markably full extent, there is no reference to H. 

 Witte and his proof that the only chance for a 

 mechanical explanation of electrical phenomena lies in ; 

 the assumption of an ether composed of discrete par- j 

 tides. i 



Of minor blemishes we have "cathion" instead of 

 cation" (p. 19) evidently due to mistaken et>inolog>-. 

 '"* ^i^icroniillimetre described as 'a thousandth of a i 

 millimetre" (p. 321), "coronarium" instead of - 

 coronium ' (p. 371), and plain "Norman Lockver" 

 P- 644) beside the full titles of other savants. In 

 dealing with magnetism, Langevin's important and 

 successful theory-, based upon the Zeeman effect and 

 Curie's law, is not mentioned. In dealing whh light, 

 NO. 2143, VOL. 85] 



the author suggests calling the velocity of light in 

 space the "radiation constant" (a term already other- 

 wise appropriated), and (p. 271) makes out that an 

 absorbing' body absorbs less (instead of more) energy 

 in unit time on being moved in the direction from 

 which the light is coming^. 



The chapter on "The* Place of Mind in the 

 L'niverse," is a fascinating one, though its connection 

 with the main work is not ven,' obvious. The author 

 aims at an all-embracing system or hierarchy of ulti- 

 mate realities, beginning at the absolute, or eternal 

 self-consciousness, and passing through mind, energy, 

 and ether down to matter. The chapter is well 

 written, and most suggestive. It is, of course, of>en 

 to criticism on rttany points, but as few physicists 

 have the courage to penetrate far into that borderland 

 on the confines of which they, more than others, are 

 wont to dwell, a spirited attempt like the present 

 deserves ever}- encouragement. .\t a time when the 

 ether is being tried for its very existence, it is unwise 

 to describe such a philosophic scheme as based uporr 

 a substance the properties of which, as the writer 

 somewhat hastily asserts, "are derived from empiricaf 

 obser\-ation." .And when that svstem is further 

 •' strengthened " by a reference to the discarded " N- 

 rays," and a single experiment in thought transfer- 

 ence unaccompanied by the elementary- safeguards 

 devised by the Psychical Research Society-, the system 

 put forward is placed at a disadvantage from the first. 

 Nor is that disadvantage removed by too great an 

 insistence on the principle of the conser\'ation of 

 energy, and its use to assign a time-limit to the 

 existence of the visible universe. ■ Such a time-limit 

 is really a negation of science and philosophy, as it 

 implies that deus ex machind from which all scien- 

 tific achievement has had to liberate itself or pjerish. 



There are eighteen appendices on miscellaneous 

 electromagnetic and philosophical subjects. Manv of 

 these, especiallv that on astronomical anomalies, are 

 verv useful and valuable. E. E. F. 



TECHNICAL DICTIONARIES. 

 The Deinhardt-Schlomann Series of Technical Dic- 

 tionaries in Six Languages. By .Alfred Schlomann. 

 Vol. v., Railway Construction and Operation. Pp. 

 xiii4-870. Price 125. net. Vol. vi.. Railway Roll- 

 ing Stock. Compiled by Dipl.-Ing. August Boshart. 

 Pp. xiii + 796. Price I05. 6d. net. (London: Con- 

 stable and Co.. Ltd.; Munich and Berlin: R. 

 Oldenbourg, 1909.) 



THESE two volumes form part of a series of tech- 

 nical dictionaries in six languages — English, 

 Spanish, German, Russian. French, and Italian — of 

 which seven volumes have now appeared. Thev are 

 edited and compiled by Messrs. Deinhardt and Schlo- 

 mann, assisted by experts from all the leading 

 countries in each branch of the subject. The essen- 

 tial features of the scheme are that the six languages 

 are all on one page, and, wherever it is ptossible, 

 sketches are given so as to elucidate the text and 

 facilitate the use of the dictionar\-. .At the end of 

 each volume complete alphabetical indexes are given, 



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